RJ05 Reflective Journal Entry 5- Due Sunday, April 3, 2011 As I observe some of you teach, I see several clever uses of technology. How do you see information technology influencing your teaching? Have you used technology to engage, inform, or increase students research or critical thinking skills? How does it help? How does it hinder? Describe some ways that you have incorporated tech into your teaching, and how you see yourself using these tools when you have your own classroom.
I definitely see technology as something that enhances my classroom and my lessons. I tend to use PowerPoint presentations to introduce new topics because it is more efficient than having to write everything on the board and have students copy it down. Using a PowerPoint is less time consuming, and instead of taking up the time to write everything on the board, I can spend more time discussing the notes and providing examples. One thing I would like to try doing more is to have students be able to work on computers to do webquests and other online activities. This would be a nice change from practicing by doing worksheets. At NKHS, the science classrooms are equipped with lab materials such as balances that are very helpful when doing experiments. A lot of other schools do not have the luxury of these nice tools. I like to engage students my showing them interesting videos that compliment the topics we are discussing. In the chemical reactions unit, technology played a key role in showing various reactions that were not safe to actually perform in the classroom. I was able to show videos of fireworks and other exciting reactions. This helped students visualize what they were learning and it engaged them because explosions are exciting. I also use online games as review games before a test. I have done Jeopardy and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in my classes and they have both gone really well. Technology can definitely hinder a lesson when it doesn’t work like it is supposed to. Sometimes a page won’t load or you can’t connect to the internet. From personal experience with these issues, I have learned to always have a backup plan. If you have a backup plan, you will be able to move on easily and the lesson won’t be completely derailed. When I have my own classroom, I would definitely like to have a projector or a smartboard so I can have PowerPoints projected in front of the class.
As I observe some of you teach, I see several clever uses of technology. How do you see information technology influencing your teaching? Have you used technology to engage, inform, or increase students research or critical thinking skills? How does it help? How does it hinder? Describe some ways that you have incorporated tech into your teaching, and how you see yourself using these tools when you have your own classroom.
I definitely see technology as something that enhances my classroom and my lessons. I tend to use PowerPoint presentations to introduce new topics because it is more efficient than having to write everything on the board and have students copy it down. Using a PowerPoint is less time consuming, and instead of taking up the time to write everything on the board, I can spend more time discussing the notes and providing examples. One thing I would like to try doing more is to have students be able to work on computers to do webquests and other online activities. This would be a nice change from practicing by doing worksheets. At NKHS, the science classrooms are equipped with lab materials such as balances that are very helpful when doing experiments. A lot of other schools do not have the luxury of these nice tools.
I like to engage students my showing them interesting videos that compliment the topics we are discussing. In the chemical reactions unit, technology played a key role in showing various reactions that were not safe to actually perform in the classroom. I was able to show videos of fireworks and other exciting reactions. This helped students visualize what they were learning and it engaged them because explosions are exciting. I also use online games as review games before a test. I have done Jeopardy and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in my classes and they have both gone really well.
Technology can definitely hinder a lesson when it doesn’t work like it is supposed to. Sometimes a page won’t load or you can’t connect to the internet. From personal experience with these issues, I have learned to always have a backup plan. If you have a backup plan, you will be able to move on easily and the lesson won’t be completely derailed.
When I have my own classroom, I would definitely like to have a projector or a smartboard so I can have PowerPoints projected in front of the class.